As optical components have become increasingly integrated with electronic components, packages for optoelectronic devices have been developed. Individually, optical component packages and electronic component packages have been designed to solve different packaging problems. For example, optical components must be carefully aligned and the alignment must be maintained for proper functionality. Electronic components often require heat dissipation elements to maintain the electronic device in a predetermined operating temperature range.
In order to provide an interface between optical components and electronic components to utilize the bandwidth provided by fiber optics, it is necessary to provide devices which can perform optical to electric, as well as electrical to optical conversion and to pass signals between the electronic and optical domains. Current packages typically have a coaxial radio frequency (RF) interface or ceramic leaded interface. An alternative package is the miniature dual in-line (MINI-DIL) package, which is a ceramic can with ceramic walls and vertical leads.
Devices such as the butterfly package as well as the MINI-DIL package are configured according to a can shape that have various sidewalls. As a result, these devices are not capable of providing a planar platform for optical components, including optical transducers, transponders or the like. Moreover, the configuration of such devices does not enable product fabrication utilizing such techniques as machine vision.
FIG. 1 illustrates a butterfly/can package known in the art. When configured as a transmitter, the butterfly/can package of FIG. 1 includes components to convert electrical signals into optical signals and to transmit the optical signals. Another package that can be used to encapsulate electrical and optical components is the MINI-DIL package, which is illustrated in FIG. 2.